Pentax K5 II vs K5 II s – Image Comparison

How does the image quality from the Pentax K5 II compare with that from the Pentax K5 II s?

Last year, Pentax announced a pair of DSLRs, the K5 II and the K5 II s. The only difference between them is the omission of an anti-aliasing filter from the latter, which in theory means it should resolve more detail than its sibling. But what kind of difference are we talking about?

In this brief article we present our first few images taken on both cameras, with crops from full-size images to show these differences along with our initial impressions. Full-size sample images from both the Pentax K5 II and the Pentax K5 II s have been added to our galleries, and more images will be added to these as we work through our full review of the Pentax K5 II and Pentax K5 II s.

Scene 2

These image have few fine details, and so the difference between them isn’t quite as pronounced as in the previous set. Nevertheless, the Roman numerals in this clockface are better defined in the Pentax K5 II s image, and the texture of the bricks and grouting can be seen better here too.

Scene 3

While the first two sets of images show the benefits of a sensor without an anti-aliasing filter, these images show the other side of the story – namely, colour aliasing artefacts. Here, both cameras have struggled to resolve the fine architectural details in this scene, and coloured aliasing patterning has affected both. The K5 II s, however, shows these artefacts to a much greater extent, although elsewhere in the image its details are noticeably better defined.

Stay tuned for our full review of the Pentax K5 II and the Pentax K5 II s.

Joseph W Hirn III

Please define “anti-aliasing” filter.
Thank you.

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